Editing La Brabançonne (section)

== History ==
[[File:Brabançonne Place Surlet de Chokier 01.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Monument for the anthem in [[Brussels]]]]

According to legend, the Belgian national anthem was written in September 1830, during the [[Belgian Revolution]], by a young revolutionary called "Jenneval", who read the lyrics during a meeting at the Aigle d'Or café.

Jenneval, a Frenchman whose real name was [[Alexandre Dechet]] (sometimes known as Louis-Alexandre Dechet), wrote the Brabançonne.  At the time, he was an actor at the theatre where, in August 1830, the revolution started, which led to independence from the Netherlands.  Jenneval died in the war of independence. [[François van Campenhout]] composed the accompanying score, based on the tune of a French song called "L'Air des lanciers polonais" ("[[1st Polish Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard#March|the tune of the Polish Lancers]]"), written by the French poet Eugène de Pradel, whose tune was itself an adaptation of the tune of a song, "L'Air du magistrat irréprochable", found in a popular collection of drinking songs called ''La Clé du caveau'' (The Key to the cellar)<ref>{{cite web|title=Courrier des Pays-Bas: La Brabançonne.|url=http://www.magasinpittoresque.be/belgique/la-brabanconne.htm|access-date=3 April 2013|archive-date=2 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002222609/http://www.magasinpittoresque.be/belgique/la-brabanconne.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Francis Martens, ''La Belgique en chantant'', pp. 19–40, in Antoine Pickels and Jacques Sojcher (eds.), ''Belgique: toujours grande et belle'', issues 1–2, Éditions Complexe, Brussels, 1998</ref> and it was first performed in September 1830.

In 1860, Belgium formally adopted the song and music as its national anthem, although the then prime minister, [[Charles Rogier]], edited out lyrics attacking the Dutch [[House of Orange-Nassau|House of Orange]], inspired by the version written by [[Louis Hymans]].<ref>{{cite web|language=fr|title=Salomon Louis Hymans et la Brabançonne |url=https://www.iejudaisme.com/post/salomon-louis-hymans-et-la-brabançonne |website=IEJ |date=2019-10-25}}</ref>

The Brabançonne is also a monument (1930) by the sculptor [[Charles Samuel]] on the Surlet de Chokier square in [[Brussels]]. The monument contains partial lyrics of both the French and Dutch versions of the anthem. Like many elements in Belgian folklore, this is mainly based on the French "[[La Marseillaise]]" which is also both an anthem and the name of a monument – the sculptural group ''Departure of the Volunteers of 1792'', commonly called ''La Marseillaise'', at the base of the [[Arc de Triomphe]] in Paris.